The Wellington Dukes and the Buffalo Jr. Sabres were evenly matched throughout their contest, but Wellington made the most of its opportunities and won, 5-3.
Each team kept the other at bay throughout the game, and Joe McKeown secured the win for the Dukes with a goal in the third period.
Erick Delaurentis had two goals to lead Wellington to victory. Delaurentis’ tallies came at 1:05 into the first period to make the score 1-0 Wellington and 19:59 into the third to make the score 5-3 Wellington.
The Dukes managed to stay out of the box better than usual, totaling one minor for two minutes in penalty time. Wellington ended up below its season average of 9.0 penalty minutes per game. The Dukes kept Buffalo’s goalie busy throughout the game, and Joseph Piantamade 41 saves on 46 shots.
Wellington also got a goal from Luc Brown as well. In addition, Wellington received assists from Justin Bean, Jacob Panetta, Mike Soucier, Abbot Girduckis, and Austin Broadhurst, who contributed one a piece.
The Jr. Sabres managed to stay out of the box better than usual, finishing with one minor for 12 minutes in penalty time. Buffalo finished below its season average of 17.0 penalty minutes per game. Wellington was unable to stop the Jr. Sabres from sending pucks towards the net, and Buffalo eventually piled up 39 shots on goal.
The Jr. Sabres were helped by Pat Egan, who had one goal. Egan scored 19:53 into the third period to make the score 4-3 Wellington. Nolan Sheeran picked up the assist. Darren McCormick also scored for Buffalo. Other players who recorded assists for Buffalo were Nick Smith, who had one.
Lucas Machalski rejected 36 shots on goal for the Dukes. Wellington registered zero goals on one power play opportunities. Buffalo registered zero goals on one power play opportunities.
